Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
K aine’s arms tightened around his mate as she slept.
He should be asleep as well, but his tiger was prodding him, demanding they handle his unfinished business.
Kissing Lucky softly, he slipped from her bed, careful not to wake her.
He threw on a pair of black jeans and matching hoodie.
Griff met him at Lucky’s door, leaning against the wall directly across from it.
“You sure you don’t want me to handle this for you?”
Kaine glared.
Griff held up his hands. “Just saying, you got people for this kind of shit.”
“Heard,” Kaine murmured, but he still headed toward the elevator. It had been a while since he’d gotten his hands dirty, but this was personal. He needed that wolf to see his face and understand his mistakes.
“Where they holding him?”
“Devon set us up with a warehouse. I didn’t want to use an Aces spot in light of everything going on,” Griff informed him.
Kaine nodded in understanding. Using an Aces spot when he wasn’t sure if there were traitors within wasn’t smart.
They loaded the SUV and headed out. The city was quiet as they drove through the streets, though people still moved around despite the fact that it was close to two in the morning.
Their tires crunched on gravel as they pulled off the two-lane road they were driving down.
Soon, they came up on a warehouse that looked like it was brand-new.
A male was outside, leaned against a box Chevy, smoking as they approached.
Griff had his gun in his hand as they got out, and the male lifted his arms. There was no fear in his gaze; if anything, there was mocking amusement.
The wolf shifter was dressed to blend into the night, not a single piece of jewelry to glint against the moonlight.
Even his braids were tied down under a durag.
“I’m Terrance. Devon sent me to offer any help.”
“We good on help,” Griff told him, not lowering his weapon.
Kaine stepped forward. “You took over for Devon?”
“Did. I was surprised to hear you were making moves in our city,” Terrance said, lowering his arms.
“Not moves. A move.” Kaine bobbed his chin toward the warehouse. “He one of yours?”
“Nah, but we got some mutuals. Ones that could make the city hot should he disappear off the planet, you feel me?”
“You worried about retaliation?” Griff asked.
Terrance shook his head. “I don’t want the underground bleeding if it can be avoided. Everyone understands an ass whooping. Leo has had it coming for a minute. I don’t know that they would take death the same way.”
“I hear you,” Kaine conceded, though his tiger was angry about the change of plans.
Terrance nodded. “Let me know when you’re done and my men will clean up behind you.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Griff told the male.
Terrance smirked, his gold teeth peeking through his lips. Throwing them a salute, he headed back to his car. When the wolf started it, loud music sounded in the night, the trunk of the Chevy rattling. Griff and Kaine waited until Terrance pulled off before heading into the warehouse.
Two lion shifters whose eyes took in everything met them at the door, a tiny ace of spades on the sleeves of their black t-shirts marking them as his men. They nodded when Kaine entered, lowering their heads in deference.
Kaine smiled when he saw the wolf bound to a chair in the center of the empty warehouse wrapped in silver chains. Leo’s face was defiant, though Kaine’s tiger could taste the wolf’s fear on the air.
It pleased him.
He had anticipated needing to teach people a lesson behind his mate but assumed that would only apply within the Aces.
He knew the reputation Sin had and didn’t think he’d need to teach lessons in Lucky’s own backyard.
But alas, those who did not hear would feel.
A chair was set in front of the wolf, along with a table beside it.
A short barrel with fire in it sat to the side of the chair in front of the wolf.
Just as he had ordered earlier. Kaine smiled at Griff because his man was always coming through.
Griff shook his head because he already knew what type of time his friend was on.
Kaine sat in front of Leo. “On the way here, I debated whether or not to kill you. But luckily, or probably unlucky for you, the wolves in this city want to keep the peace, so they’ve requested I keep you alive.”
The wolf flinched, but relief loosened his shoulders at Kaine’s words.
“The problem with that, is that my tiger is pretty pissed. You put your hands on our mate.”
“I didn’t know she was attached to you.”
“Fair,” Kaine conceded, nodding to Griff. He held out his hand and his enforcer dropped a machete into it. It was shiny and new, the silver deadly sharp. Kaine smiled as he stood.
“Man, Kaine, you don’t have to worry about me touching your mate again,” Leo begged.
Kaine snorted because that would go without saying. “Is that your plea for me to leave you alone?” he asked, uninterested either way.
Griff pulled on Leo’s arm and the wolf started bucking, his animal trying to break through the chains. Griff laid the wolf’s arm on the table and Leo tucked his fingers, already anticipating Kaine’s plan.
“Don’t piss me off further. You want to lose the whole arm?”
“Come on, man,” the wolf whined as he unfurled his fingers.
“Keep your motherfucking hands to yourself.”
Kaine swung and four of the digits sliced clean off. Leo screamed, feral growls rattling his chest as his wolf tried to force a shift. As long as Leo was in those chains, shifting wouldn’t happen, no matter how much he and his animal fought.
He handed off the bloodied machete, his tiger prodding him to go further. Obliging, Kaine reached into the burning barrel at his side. The rubber handle of the poker protected him from the heat. Leo’s eyes widened, tears running down his cheeks.
“I believe you when you say you’ll leave my mate alone. But, see… I want to make sure you have a reminder of this lesson. So, this”—he waved the poker—“will be that reminder. As well as a warning to others how I’m coming behind my baby.”
Pressing the hot poker into the back of the wolf’s hand, his tiger reveled in the high scream from the male.
Violence was his animal’s love language and since he’d taken over his grandfather’s position, there hadn’t been many opportunities to let the cat run free.
Kaine lifted the hot poker, satisfied with the spade that was burned into Leo’s skin.
He nodded to Griff, who released the wolf’s arm and backed away.
The wolf wouldn’t bleed out, and because the machete was silver, his fingers wouldn’t heal.
His tiger wanted to do more. Even now, the animal was pacing his skin, demanding more blood, more pain, but for the sake of the allies they kept in this city, Kaine pushed it down.
Turning his back on the crying wolf, he walked away with Griff at his side.
“Release him in a couple of hours, I want him to feel the pain before his wolf heals him,” he ordered the lions at the door.
He and Griff left the warehouse and Kaine took a deep breath of the late-night air. He needed to get back to Lucky’s before she woke up.
Hours later, he woke up to the scent of coffee and his mate groggily moving through her kitchen.
It was a little after six, and while he’d had only a few hours of sleep, he had to make moves.
There were a few meetings on his schedule today that couldn’t be pushed aside.
He was reluctant to leave his baby, and now that she was done with work, he was ready for her to move to Oakridge.
The back and forth was no longer working for him, and the closer they got to the Ascension Ball, the more he worried his enemies would start to target her.
Lucky gave him a sleepy smile as she turned to greet him. Setting her coffee mug aside, he pulled her into his arms.
“Morning, gorgeous.” He kissed her neck.
“Thank you for waking me up. And about last night…”
He kissed her deeply. “I don’t talk just to talk, princess. My priority is keeping you safe. You’ve seen hints of my tiger. Shit will go way left if he has to act up behind you. Besides, I can’t afford to be arguing with you over instructions that will keep you safe.”
She nodded. “I’ll be more mindful.”
“Is that your apology?”
“I apologized last night,” she told him, pouting.
“Only because you wanted to come.” He nipped her bottom lip and she chuckled.
“It still counts.”
“So you say,” he muttered, kissing her one final time. He needed to get on the road. “I got meetings all day today. Come to me when you’re done with your hair. Movers will be here to pack up the apartment on Monday.”
“That wasn’t a question, Rah,” she murmured, nuzzling under his chin.
He chuckled. “But you heard what I said.”
She sighed and pulled back. “How have you scheduled movers and I haven’t packed?”
“They’ll do all that. All you need to worry about is anything you don’t want them touching. I talked to Richie and he promised to supervise.”
Her eyes widened. “Excuse you? When did you call my brother?”
“We got our own group chat.” His smirk had her rolling her eyes. But she didn’t argue about the movers, so he took it as a win. “I’ll see you this evening.”
Lucky snorted. “I wanna say something smart, but I’m too sleepy to go back and forth with you,” she mumbled. “I’m going to see my parents first and then I’ll head to you.”
He smiled because even if she was a little irritated, he’d gotten what he wanted. She walked him to the door, kissing him one last time.
“Give your parents my regards,” he told her.
“Your regards. Okay, prep school.”
He snickered and left out, pulling up his bank app on his phone as he entered the hallway. As always, Griff was lockstep with him.
“Grandfather wants to see you.”
Kaine sucked his teeth. “For what?”